Armenia and Georgia: From Warsaw to Vilnius and Beyond

At the Warsaw Summit of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) in September 2011, the EU and its Eastern partners agreed on an ambitious roadmap towards gradual political and economic integration. The forthcoming Vilnius Summit will take stock of each partner country’s transformations and decide on the nature of their future relation with the EU.

In advance of this event, the Open Society Foundations–Armenia and the Open Society Georgia Foundation convened independent experts and civil society representatives from both countries to assess the implementation of the EaP roadmap in Armenia and Georgia. The evaluation is based on EU criteria in policy areas such as election standards, freedom of media, regional and local self-government, functioning of the judiciary, and the fight against corruption.

At this roundtable, experts will present their findings and discuss the state of play and the prospect for future reforms and integration. Did the EaP manage to foster significant reforms in Armenia and in Georgia? Are the goals of the EU and its partners aligned? Are partner countries pursuing sustained reform agendas and have they come closer to the EU? What will be the impact on the EaP of Armenia’s recent decision to join the Russia-led Customs Union? Finally, what can we expect from the Vilnius Summit in terms of further rapprochement between the EU and its Eastern neighbours?

Experts

Levon Barseghyan, Chairman of “Asparez” Journalists’ Club (Gyumri), Member of Gyumri City Council

Larisa Minasyan, Director, Open Society Foundations - Armenia

Kornely Kakachia, Associate Professor, Political Science Department, Tbilisi State University